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Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 630, 1 February 1870, Page 2

The petition to the County Council, embodying the resolutions passed at the late public meeting, was being rapidly signed yesterday, and will be forwarded to its destination in a few days, bearing the signature of every man of property, position or influence in town. Last evei ing a meeting, called by circular^ was held in the Million: ne Hotel, for the purpose of t.iking oteps to initiate a Dramatic anil Histrionic I'lub. Mr M'Dougall was called to the chair, MrM. L. Browne, who had called the meeting, made explanations, and moved- "That a Club bu formed, to be called the (J-eymoiith A matuiir Dramatic and ilistrioni^ Club. " This was scuonilwl by Mi

Apted, supported by Mr A. lt. Guinness, and > carried, Mr Hawley moved— M That gentle- ■ men intending to become members send in their names to the Secretary pro tern." This ■ was carried, whereupon a number of names were sent in, and a committee was appointed to draw up the rules, consisting of seven members, with the treasurer, Mr Guinness, and secretary, Mr Browne, pro tern, as ex officio members, four to form a quorum. Yesterday we were once more isolated from the outer world. Cobb and Go's coach left town as usual, and reached the Teremakau, 1 which was found to be literally "boiling," and not capable of being crossed. However, the Hokitika coach did not put in an appearance on the opposite side, having, most pro--1 bably, been stopped at the Kapitea Creek, and after waiting two hours and a-half the Grey coach returned to town, leaving the k mails and passenger* at the Teremakau. > Consequently, we are without the Hokitika ; papers, our correspondent's letter, the over- , land mail, and the Omeo's mails, and as , there have been no arrivals in port, tbiß must . be our excuse for a paucity of general news , this morning. i We have to remind our readers that the drawing in the Auckland Art Union, for the i benefit of the Thames Hospital, comes off . the first week in February. All those anxious to secure tickets had better apply to Mr G. W. Moss at once, as he has only a few ' left. A special meeting of the Grey River Hospital Committee was held at Gilraer's ■ Hotel, last evening, for the purpose of i acoepting tenders for supplies for the ensuing ; six months. The following being the lowest I tenders were aocepted :— Groceries, D. Ma- > goffin and Co. ; Wines, Spirits, &c, Hamilton , and Nichol ; Butcher Meat, Barclay and Co., . 6Jd j Burials, Home and Co., L2 lßs; Waal.---r ing, Mrs Bichards, £8 per month ; Bread, W. Jones, 9cl per 4lb loaf j Milk, J. Bradlej , , 6d par quart. A short time since Mr Jones, baker, ' Mackay street, lost his purse, containing l money and papers. He advertised for the ' return of the papers, and a few evenings ago a stone was thrown at the door. On being ■ opened no person was to be seen, but the ■ purse, containing the papers, bat no money, was found hanging to the door-handle. Since ; then Mr Jones's silver lever watch has been stolen out of his bedroom, and no trace of it found. , The strong north-west breeze blowing yes- , terday morning would prove very favorable . for the Charles Edward, Perm, and other steamers, which are due from the north. While speaking of this. we may mention that light winds and calms prevailed on the other side of the range, and' that while the Canterbury rivers were in high flood, those in the Nelson and Marlborough provinces were reported as low. The bars on the West Coast rivers are at present considered good. We notice that Mr Carreras is about to move in the County Council "that the Chairman' inst'Tict the Mining Surveyor to prospect for and cut a pack-track from Maori Gully (Arnold) to Clifton, on such gradients as that when metalled it shall form a fourfoot metalled horse track. Also in tbe same manner one from Clifton to Pounamu, avoiding as much as possible the Eight-mile Creek. Also one from No Name to Pounamu. " Yesterday was intended to have been the last appearance of Mr Lowe upon the Bench at Cobden in the capacity of Resident Magistrate and Warden ; but as Mr Whitefoord, his successor, has not been gazetted, and consequently cannot sit until he is so, Mr Lowe is necessarily compelled to await his arrival. We suppose Mr Whitefoord will make his appearance in a week or so, in time to enable his predecessor in office to get away and catch tbs homeward-bound mail steamer, iv which, it is stated, Mr Lowe intends to take his passage. It may be that !? cleanliness is next to godliness," but that is no reason why decency should be outraged as it was last Sunday afternoon on the banks of the lagoon, in full view of the passers-bye on a main road. We do not refer simply to bathing, but to other acts of which the perpetrators ought to be thoroughly ashamed, and of which the police ought to have taken notice ere this. So long as they are allowed throughout the entire day, one of the few fine walks in Greymouth will be practically closed. The Borough Council ought at once to fix tbe hours morning and evening during which bathing will be allowed within the Borough, and until these bye-laws can be brought into force, the police ought to see that the conduct we have referred to is prohibited for the future. Mr Lab man telegraphs to us from Hokitika that the cost of making the road from Greymouth to the Coal-pits would be about L 5500. If so, we willingly correct our error, but still believe that it could be done for a much smaller sum, as we notice that the estimate for the road from the Coal pits to Arnold was L2OOO, and the estimate for carrying the road on to Greymouth was L4OOO, as it appeared on the Estimates for the last half year. But that does not alter the principle for which we contended in our last loader— that when both toads oould be made on deferred payments, the one in the Grey district had as much right to be ordered to be carried out as the Arahura road. ■ By the way, we notice that the said telegram is charged "to the account of the County Council." Mr Lahman might have "embraced the opportunity" of enlightning his constituents on this question a little more fully. We have the unpleasant duty of recording a fatal mining accident which occurred at Eosanna Terrace., Maori Creek, in M'Grath's claim late on Friday night, by which a miner i named John Fahey was smothered. A cor- '■ respondent, who assisted to dig the deceased out, sends us the following details j — This dreadful occurrence took place in M'Grath's ' claim between ten anil eleven o'clock on ' Friday night. The party, five in number, i were all at work at tbe time, having of late > put in ths ir shifts at ni^ht. It appears that the deceased and M 'Grath were working in > the face putting in a set of timber and a seven I foot cap. Fahty was driving home the laths. • On tho first blow being given to soncl the

next lath up, the main cap on which the laths were driven canted to one side, and, without a moment's warning, down came the laths overhead, striking Fahey on the upper part of the body with tremendous force, and covering him up with some tons of dirt and stones from the run of stuff that followed the opening. M'Grath's escape was miraculous, being free from all hurt, He happened while in the face to be ou the side of the solid ground, the canted cap beai'ing to face inside, but still holding its place on the opposite prop, the false set remaining stationary, though much of the dirt closed in around him that shot down from the broken roof. The poor fellow who got killed had immediate assistance. His mates say he did not live two minutes. A stitled agonising groan or two was all they heard. After a little time they got his head clear, and seeing that he was dead, gave word of the shocking affair to the men on the terrace, who came in numbers and haste to render all help in their power. In a couple of hours deceased was extricated, when the corpse of the hearty and pleasant digger of a little time previous was taken in silence and sorrow to his hut. It is a matter of mystery how the timbers gave way, the ground all round<beirig well secured, timbered well, ana 1 the party good working and experienced miners. The knowledge of the sad accident cast quite a gloom over the place. The miners, much to their credit, testifying their respect and evincing a -true Christian feeling of regret and esteem in refraining from work in their claims on Saturday. Intelligence of what had happened was tiven at the Camp by daybreak on Saturday morning. The deceased was about 30 years of age, and, from what I can learn, was a native of Gal way, West of Ireland, and a Roman Catholic. , Among the departures by the Omeo to-day will be that of Mr George Taylor, who has been a resident here for the last four years, and during all that time prominently connected with all progressive movements in our midst. A number of his private friends met last evening at the Melbourne Hotel, Mr Girdwood in the chair, for the purpose of having a parting adieu with a valued friend, and it was not till a late hour that, after sundry toasts had been proposed, a hearty God speed the parting guest was given. The departure of Mr Taylor breaks another link in the happy chain of old residenters here. From two correspondents we ( Westport Times) have very different views expressed with regard to the future of the Auckland gold fields. One says: — "In a word the Coast is far better for the hard-up miner than this place. The wages are low — from 30s to £2 per week — and it is not everyone that can get a job. On the other hand, a man with capital— say, from £100 upwards— with proper care, and looking before he leaps, may do well. This will be a great country for gold yet, but it will take time to develope its resources." Another writes:— "l like Auckland very mucty The combination of a. floating diggings 'population with the viceregal and .military, grandees of the settled population, gives quite a metropolitan liveliness to the place, and the semi-tropical temperature is most pleasant when modified by the light sea breezes which prevail here. It is, however, a poor place for money-making, and I do not think I shall remain long, as the Thames gold-field hag seen its best days. ' For the information of our mining readers oi the Nelson side of the district, we take the following from a late number of the Westport Times':— " We gather from the rimarks of the Warden for the Charleston district, when recently granting registration for a dam of extended area, that it is intended, in some instances, to set aside the obnoxious principle that the water contained in any dam where such is constructed in or across the bed of a creek or water-course shall be held subject to its being returned to the creek'Ttfiithft benefit of those holding a prior right to the creek water. In the neighboring district a vast amount of litigation has sprung out of a desire to rectify what damholders very naturally conceived to be a great injustice. They argued that, if such construction were put upon the regulation, it must be the means of benefiting the few fortunate holders of rights to creek water, to the prejudice of at least seven-eighths of the mining population. To those who are conversant with the water supply of the district of Charleston, and how highly necessary is a coustant and c ipious provision to carry on the working, it is almost needless to urge the immense importance of constructing dams. With the exception of two excellent races fed from the Nile river, and a few" other rights, the district has depended entirely upon these meaLS of storibg tbe surplus water, and, such being the ca o e, one would suppose that on grounds of public utility it would have been prudent' to lend every encouragement to the construction of works so calculated to economise and develop the resources of. the country. In the earlier days holders of the various rights agreed admirably ; the artificial reservoirs gave the holder of creuk water a good supply when he must otherwise have been idle ; and he consequently had no ground of dissatisfaction. ' It war only when dam-holders, having worked out their original claims, sought to convey water, by means of races to fresh ground, that any disagreement arose between the rival occupants of water rights. As is well known, the holders of rights to creek water gained the day in every instance, and it only remained for those who had constructed dams to abandon or dispose of them , greatly under value. , The condition under ' which permission has been obtained to construct a dam in Deep Creek would lead to the bslief that the ragulations admit of another construction in connection with this subject than has hitherto been acted upon, and that parties building! extensive dams for the saving of surplus water will in future derive a permanent benefit from their labor.